RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

Roundball, very well said and I agree 100%. :)

My PRB hunting loads are fairly stout. I always use a tighter ticking patch and a wonderwad to allow for the heaviest charge within loading data limits while still maintaining accuracy.

For .45 and a PRB I try to stay under 100 yards, but would take an ideal 100 yard shot with a .45.

For 50, 54 & 58 caliber PRB, 125 yards is the limit I hunt at. Not because the PRB is not still effective, it's because 125 yards is the limitI can sight open sights. If I had optics or diopter elevation sights then I could with practice shoot much farther out to say 200 yards and the PRB would still be effective.

However, all of my PRB hunting is done with more traditionally styled MLs, as such I don't want optics or anything other than either a fixed, ormild elevation or elevation/windage rear sight arrangement. Hunting or Patridge style sights. I love the patridge sights and a 6:00 hold. :D

Tahquamenon

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

I believe the problem with trying to come up with some graphical chart to determine a limiting range is that there are too many variables to allow you to accurately do so. Also, we don't really know for sure how much kinetic energy is required to humanely kill a deer since different projectiles impart their stored energy to the deer in different manners. You used 800 ft/lbs as the minimum for your chart, but the natural resources and hunting officials of many states have determined that a 500 ft/lb minimum is enough and some people will even tell you that is more than enough. I don't think anyone can tell you that any one figure is the absolute minimum required. I don't see any way a chart can tell you more than actual expeience in the field, with the rifle and projectile used.

I know you are looking for something to give you an idea because of a lack of experience. All I can say that is if you put the .54cal roundball you spoke about into the heart/lungs of a deer, within 100 yds, it will go down within 10-15 seconds. Most of my shots have been within 70 yds and most of thedeer I've taken went down much quicker than that.

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

sproulman,the cal. is 54 the ball was.535 the load was 130gr. of RS I used a 22thou. ticking patch with veg. oil lube.
There are a couple of things that Might help if you are trying to get max Vol. I built the rifle myself it had 35.5 inch barrel [I also proof tested it myself] the combination of patch and ball was as tight as would work without cutting the patch,I compacted the load before I put the patch and ball in then I used a ramrod tip turned to fit the barrel and the shape of the ball.Most of this I picked up from the guys I shot the mountain man and the Hawken Matches some also came from the round ball bench matches.
Lee

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

Tahquamenon,if you like to see what you can do to improve the sighting capabilities you might try a v-peep I made my own it took several trys but in the end I got it so the peep center was on at 100 yd and the bottom of the V was on at 150 yd . Lee

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

I use 800 ft-lbs as the minumum for the 243 in order to determine the minimum kp. But all the roundballs werebetween 540 to 660 ft.lbsbecause of their tendency to have greater kp for a given KE value. Had I used 500 ft/lb as the minimum for the 243 it would have increased the ranges dramatically. For the .45 the range would have increased to 90 yards with energy at 417 ft-lbs. Like jaybe, given the choice, I would prefer to hit a deer with .45 cal 417 ft.lbs than .243 cal 500 ft.lbs. any day of the week.

Happy Hunting, Phil

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

interesting. i have a v-peep. i do same thing.out to 100 yards my v-peep covers the target,so iput front sight deeper in the aperature and sight over it at 100yds.otherwise , i cant see target that far away. at 50 ,yds same thing, i guess you can say i BURY sight deep down in bottom of v-peep. it works wonderful.if you have bi -focals you got to make sure you are sighting over those.my next pair of hunting glasses prescription is going to be without bi-focals.you can get stick on bi-focals now to put on your glasses.

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

sproulman,I switched to some new nonreflective blended lenses.
Ihad to get bifocals at 60 and trifocals at 63 its not a cure all but at least 100 percent better than the trifocals.Lee

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

my bottom bi-focals were really messing up my rear sight on my v-peep.after i found out why, sight is great as long as i look over bi-focal. i have ones that blend in to lense.

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

I recall that when evaluating rifle wounding ability at long range, the U.S. Army Ordnance and Mediucal departments stated that the ability to penetrate ONE 1"-pine board was the ability to cause a DANGROUS of fatal wound, if the bullet struck a vital spot. This was with .308" bullets. If this is a valid criteria, then I woukld tend to beleive that a .45" or larger roundlead ball, travelling at a velocity sufficient to penetrate TWO such 1" thick pine boards would kill a deer reliablyif it struck the ribcage behind a shoulder anddid not get stopped by a large bone. Now, what velocity would do this? I think any velocity over 800 FPS or so would permit the round ball to do this. The 230-grain bullet fromthe .45 ACP with a muzzle velocity of 825-850 FPS will usually go completely through a person......

So we are once again back to the idea that shot placement is a lot more important than energy in making a clean kill.

RE: Some thoughts on effective ranges for roundball
 

And as another reference, I lined up 5 one gallon water jugs at 25yds, and shot my .45cal round ball hunting load straight into the middle of the first one.

The ball flatttened out the size of a nickle, completely exploding the first two jugs bursting them to shreds,blowingwater fora 20 foot distance,entered/ruptured and barely exited the third, denting the plastic on the forth jug and laying there for me to pick up.

That's three jugs about 6-7" wide, filled with water, and 6 firm sheets of plastic...tremendous energy for a .440/128grn soft lead ball.